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Kokua Line
Question: We visit Hawaii often, staying on beautiful Kailua Beach, and are perplexed at the number of bees that we see in the water and on the shoreline. We walk lots of beaches when we are here and have noticed the phenomenon elsewhere, but not to the extent we see on Kailua and Lanikai beaches. Do you know the science behind it? Our best guess is that the bees get "drunk" off the plentiful flowers in nearby gardens, then end up flying off course into the water. We would be interested in any information you could offer. Why so many
dead bees on
Kailua Beach?Answer: We went to bee expert Tom Culliney, an entomologist with the state Department of Agriculture with your query. "My guess would be as good as any," including yours, he said, but he did have some interesting information about the busy little insects.
He said the bees you've seen probably were foraging on flowers near the beach and, if it was windy, they could have been blown into the water. But he thinks most were simply "old and weak and ready to die."
Culliney noted that in Hawaii, because of our warm weather, bees work all the time.
"They work themselves to death," he said, with the average worker bee living only four to six weeks. In temperate zones, over the winter season, bees can live four to six months because they're isolated in hives during the cold weather and not that active.
Culliney said he couldn't verify that Kailua and Lanikai beaches end up with more dead bees, but Hawaii "undoubtedly has a huge wild bee population. I've been in the woods and seen old, hollow trees and invariably, there'll be a bee nest in there. They'll nest in old machinery -- in anything that's hollow of a certain volume."
Hawaii's benign climate probably also allows colonies to build up their populations more quickly than in colder climates and the bees here probably swarm more often, Culliney said.
A swarm is when a colony divides because it becomes too populous, he explained.
"It will roughly divide in half and the old queen will go off with one group to found a new nest. That's probably why we have so many wild colonies, also known as feral colonies," Culliney said.
Q: Why is the retrofit rebate for installing a water-saving toilet only available to homeowners? If it could apply to any taxpayers (e.g., renters, relatives, companions) who paid for the installation, there would be greater response.
A: The toilet rebate program is not limited only to homeowners, said Board of Water Supply manager and chief engineer Clifford Jamile.
City ordinance 98-26 has been amended to allow a homeowner OR authorized agent to be entitled to a rebate (ordinance 00-05).
"We interpret authorized agent to be renters, relatives, companions, property managers, et al," Jamile said.
Q: Do you have a list of organizations to help teens, not necessarily disadvantaged teens?
A: Call ASK-2000 (275-2000), the community information and referral hotline which was taken over by Aloha United Way in April. The hotline provides information about 4,000 community services.
Sheila, please call
Steve is awaiting your call at 386-7743 regarding the telephone at West Loch.
Auwe
To the lady who almost ran me over as I was crossing Lunalilo Home Road in Hawaii Kai about 11:30 a.m. Aug. 8. You were by the gas station as I saw you, so it was quite a distance away. -- A senior
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com